A public servant has been jailed over a scam involving a BMW and $200,000 in bribes.

Mark Ainslie, a former senior project manager at the WA Department of Communities, has been sentenced to more than four years in jail for accepting bribes to award contracts to associates. 

His offences, committed between 2014 and 2020, included receiving cash and a luxury car.

Ainslie began working for the department in 2013, where he could approve contracts under $50,000. 

In 2014, he made a deal with a former colleague to award contracts in exchange for a 10 per cent kickback. Over five years, he received $220,500 and a $17,000 white BMW. 

In 2018, Ainslie worked for Griffin Civil without declaring it and helped them secure a $2 million tender. He also awarded them contracts in regional Aboriginal communities. 

To cover his tracks, Ainslie used split invoices and had money routed through an accomplice’s brother.

Despite Ainslie's claim that his actions were motivated by personal debt from a failed business, Judge Charlotte Wallace rejected his argument. 

She called him the “principal offender” and said he orchestrated his own downfall.

Ainslie had prior convictions for fraud and corruption in 2001 and 2002, which he failed to disclose when joining the department. Judge Wallace highlighted his history of dishonest behaviour, stressing the abuse of public trust.

Ainslie’s guilty plea and cooperation were considered, but the judge emphasised the need for deterrence, noting his actions could damage public confidence in government institutions. He will be eligible for parole in April 2027.

More details are accessible here.

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